FC United of Manchester
FC United of Manchester
FC United of Manchester

Community

The focus of FC United's youth work is to raise the aspirations of young people and especially young people in North Manchester. We do this by getting young people involved in various projects linked to our club, including volunteering projects, media projects and organising their own community projects. Our aim is to demonstrate to young people that they can develop skills to enhance their life chances right on their doorstep and to gain confidence in their ability from their own experiences and contact with a club that was set up and run by ordinary people.

For more information about our community & educational work please contact us on 0161 769 2005 or email office@fc-utd.co.uk

1.1 International Exchanges

FC United is committed to using the international links we have as a club to give young people in Manchester and across the world opportunities to meet, work together and explore issues of common interest in order promote international and cultural understanding.

Our first major project of this type took place in the summer of 2013 and was called the Football, Young People and Democracy Project. This was a youth exchange between FC United of Manchester and partner organisations in Manchester, United Kingdom and the Fanprojekt SV Babelsberg 03 and other partner organisations based in Postdam in Germany. The project received a European Union grant from the Youth in Action programme to cover all costs of the exchange. The objective of the project was to give young people from Manchester and Potsdam an opportunity to evaluate how different organisations in the two cities engaged young people in democratic processes and structures. 18 young people, mainly aged 16-18, participated in the project and visited each other's cities in July and August 2013.

The Football, Young People and Democracy Project was a youth exchange between FC United of Manchester and partner organisations in Manchester, United Kingdom and the Fanprojekt SV Babelsberg 03 and other partner organisations based in Postdam in Germany. The project received a European Union grant of 20,746 Euros via the Youth in Action programme. The objective of the project was to give young people from Manchester and Potsdam an opportunity to evaluate how different organisations in the two cities engaged young people in democratic processes and structures. 18 young people, mainly aged 16-18, participated in the project and visited each other's cities in July and August 2013. Many of the participating young people were young people with fewer opportunities.

The visit to Manchester focused especially on;

The struggle for democracy in Manchester

How young people are involved in local democratic structures

The impact of a fans-owned football club that is run on a democratic basis on the assumptions shared by inhabitants of the city.

The young people made a series of short radio programmes while they were in Manchester. These programmes were broadcast on FC United's radio station and are available as a podcast.

The visit to Postdam focused especially on;

The historical struggle against fascism.

The contemporary struggle againts racism and homphobia and how young people engage in that.

The impact of anti-racism and anti-homophobia campaigns in football clubs.

The young people made a blog and Facebook page to record their findings and how what they found out and experienced made them re-evaluate themselves.

The club have now received notification of our accreditation to host, send and coordinate volunteers from the European Volunteer Service from Broadhurst Park and this is something we will be working towards for 2016. We are open to dialogue with groups in Greater Manchester or further afield in developing International experiences for local young people.

Youth United Day is an annual event that the club has organised since its first season 2005-06 to encourage young people to attend affordable football. We work with a huge number of young people in North Manchester and this is a way for us to open our doors to young people, with activities on the day aimed at giving young people a flavour of what the club and the wider community has to offer them.

1.4 People United Day

People United Day is an annual event at FC United which reinvigorates our club's commitment to building an inclusive society. This year the club has received a small grant from ‘Fans for Diversity' and this will contribute to paying for a community art worker to engage with young people from a range of local schools to deliver workshops around diversity, inclusion and equality. The participants will be invited to a home league match as close to Fans Against Racism Europe's fortnight of action at the end of October and display the work they completed with our community art worker to our wider match-day support. The banners will be displayed within the ground for the duration of the season.

1.5 The Summer Youth Project

This Summer we worked with over 1000 young people through multi sports activities at Abraham Moss Community School, Smedley Playing Fields, Bignor Street Park, Nuthurst Park, Broadhurst Park, Whitemoss Youth Centre, Factory Youth Zone and also at the North Manchester Community Games. We will continue to work in partnership with Manchester City Council and the North Manchester Sports Forum to offer free (where possible) or low cost, quality provision to young people in North Manchester.

1.6 Friday Night Project

FC United continue to work in partnership with Abraham Moss to deliver Friday Night Sessions in multi-sports to young people in Crumpsall and the surrounding areas. We are currently working with over 50 young people each week and will continue to do this for the full academic year, including providing holiday provision for the school as well.